Now, that grade scale will extend to the application of scores received on end-of-course state-administered exams by Nashville high school students.

If a student scores anywhere below a 49, the exam grade will be entered and calculated into the average as a 50, a position that Metro officials clarified last month.

That could make a key difference on grades on report cards, which are set to be mailed home next week.

Under state law, end-of-course, or EOC, exams administered by the state to high school students are to account for 25 percent of students’ final grades for the semester.

The state’s delay of releasing scores on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program, taken by students in grades 3-8, resulted in waivers from this statute for many districts. The requirement remains intact, however, at the high school level.

MNPS spokeswoman Meredith Libbey said the district “believes in the approach” of what is known as “standards-based grading.” She said grades should reflect student comprehension with the goal of mastering each standard ushered in as part of new Common Core academic framework.

“This was just a clarification that it applies to end-of-course exams as well,” Libbey said, adding that it came at the request of high school principals. “We do have that discretion from the state and we understand that we aren’t the only district that uses a modified grading scale.”

For accountability purposes overseen by the state, scores on TCAP and EOC are left unchanged.

In an April 28 email to top school officials, Metro’s Chief Academic Officer Jay Steele said he met with Paul Changas, the district’s executive director of research, assessment, and evaluation, that morning to discuss the “pros and cons” of conforming EOC grades to the 50-100 scale. The email noted that middle schools were already calculating only 50-100 on TCAP.

Libbey said the discussion simply clarified the policy extended to EOC exams and didn’t represent a new decision.

EOC tests assess students in algebra I and II; geometry; physics; English I, II and III; U.S. history; biology I; and chemistry.